Discovering Pére Lachaise
Views To Die For
Where can you find over a million people all enjoying some of the best views in Paris? No, not Montmartre—though the crowds on the Sacré-Cœur steps might make you think otherwise.
The real answer? Père Lachaise Cemetery: Paris’s most exclusive address, with a killer guest list. Oscar Wilde (so many lipstick kisses they had to install plexiglass around his tombstone), Chopin (the cemetery’s unofficial flower market), and Edith Piaf, who still draws a crowd without humming a note of La Vie en Rose, all reside there. Then there’s Jim Morrison—an expat forever on his “final tour.” His grave is hard to find, underwhelming once you do, yet still a pilgrimage site for fans as well as curiosity-seekers.
The gravesites themselves are as fascinating as the names carved on them. My favorite discovery? Théodore Géricault, painter of The Raft of the Medusa, whose masterpiece hangs just a stone’s throw from the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. His tomb features a bronze relief of the painting right on the front, topped with a statue of Géricault himself—palette in hand, as if he might sketch you on your way by. That’s the joy of wandering Père Lachaise: unexpected nuggets of history tucked among the towering trees, Gothic tombs and majestic mausoleums.
And yes, there’s even a waiting list to rest in peace there—but how does one join such an exclusive club when no one has the gumption to leave? At Père Lachaise, “forever” is negotiable. Perpetual plots are saved for the rich, the famous, and people with unusually persuasive families. Everyone else these days signs up for 10, 30, or 50 year leases. Ten years feels like an AirBnB of the afterlife; fifty is more the penthouse suite—until management reminds you it’s still a rental. When your lease runs out, families can renew… or not. Skip the paperwork, and you’re evicted from eternity—boxed, tagged, and shelved in the ossuary with all the reverence of last year’s Christmas decorations. I wonder how big the market is for gently-used gravestones?
If you’ve got an afternoon, I cannot recommend it enough. Stroll through two centuries worth of love, loss, culture, and devotion, with some of Paris’s most legendary residents at your side, just not particularly talkative.
Bonus: unlike most Paris attractions, this one is free. No ticket lines, no Eiffel Tower keychains—just a million or so quiet neighbors enjoying some of the city’s most spectacular vistas. I envision on a full moon they’re out dancing in the streets and pathways that crisscross their eternal home. Sublime.